Reviewing young adult, new adult, and romance since 2013.

Estelle and Oliver have noticed each other for years. Something might have happened sooner if Oliver wasn’t Estelle’s brother’s best friend. But as it happened, they did their best to avoid each other. Oliver threw himself into med school. Estelle got engaged to someone else. But still, they never quite got over each other.

When tragedy wrecks Estelle’s life, she does the one thing she can think to do: moves in with her brother. Suddenly, all the years of distance she’s put between herself and Oliver don’t seem to matter anymore. Because he’s around all the time. He’s still noticing her. And he wants to make up for lost time.

This was my first book by Claire Contreras, and I really enjoyed it. Estelle and Oliver were a good match, and there was enough sexual tension and dancing around each other to make me really believe that they’d kept their feelings for each other pent up over the years. The forbidden aspect was just enough to make it sexy but not so much to be over the top.

This book isn’t perfect, not by a long shot. There were things that frustrated me, including Estelle’s whole relationship with her fiance. (Red flags were flying all over the place.) But I’m a sucker for friends-to-lovers. I’m on a bit of a forbidden romance kick. And honestly, the writing was really, really good.

So if you, like me, are into this sort of thing, you’ve got nothing to lose by giving this a try.